The valley of Oaxaca at 5000 ft., is the largest area
                                                                        (about 700 square kilometers) of flat arable land in the
                                                                        state. The valley is Y-shaped, with the Mitla valley
                                                                        extending east of the city, the Zimatlan valley to the
                                                                        south, and the Etla valley to the north-west.

(Above, left to right) Labastida garden, Center of Oaxaca City / green pottery of Oaxaca / the Regional Museum of Oaxaca / the Oaxaca Zócalo

The river Atoyac coming down from Etla is joined in the city by the Salado river from the Mitla valley, and continues down the Zimatlan valley to the Oaxaca coast. At the center of the Y is the city of Oaxaca and the hill of Monte Alban, with its ancient city, which rises 1000 ft above the floor of the valley. The Oaxaca valley itself has been the home of the Zapotec people for more than 4000 years, the high land to the north and west was Mixtec country, whilst to the north and east were the mountain Zapotecs, the 'serranos'. The modern city of Oaxaca and the three valleys, which extend for about 20 miles (30 Km.), are filled with interesting places to visit during your vacation.

The hotel management will be delighted to help you find the many organized tours, or to arrange special private or group tours to any points of interest. Horse back riding to the nearby mountains and eco-tours are available. Enthusiastic hikers will find a multitude of trails in the Oaxaca valley and surrounding mountains. Box lunches and special snacks are prepared on request.

(Above, left to right) Mitla, close to Oaxaca City / Mezcal of Oaxaca / the Oaxaca Guelaguetza / the MACO Museum of art in Oaxaca

Costume and dancing is an important part of the local Zapotec culture all year round, but the most important festival of the year is the Guelaguetza in early July.

(left) The color of the Guelaguetza, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Traditional dancing performed by children at a roadside restaurant near Teotitlan del Valle on a Sunday afternoon.

(left) The traditional color of Oaxaca.

The ruins of Mitla, Oaxaca

The archaeological record in the region is unparalleled: at the center there is the ancient city of Monte Alban sculpted out of the mountain itself, with its massive pyramids and temples, in the eastern valley there is the City of the Dead at Mitla, in the Etla Valley the first Zapotec capital at San Jose Mogote, and in the Zimatlan Valley, the last Zapotec capital at Zaachila.

Yagul in Oaxaca, Mexico

Also in the Mitla valley, are the ancient Zapotec center of the ceremonial ball game, pelota, at Dainzu, the quiet beauty of Yagul with its hill fort and palace of the seven courtyards, and the later site of Lambityeco. They are all easily accessible from the hotel by car or coach.

On the way to these sites in the Mitla valley, be sure to stop at the magnificant old tree at El Tule, towering over the nearby church - the biggest tree in Mexico.

(Left) The ancient tree at Tule

The Tule tree is more than 2000 years old, it's height is 42 meters (about 136 feet), the diameter of the huge trunk is 14 meters (about 45 feet).

You can further explore the archeological sites of Monte Alban, Yagul and Mitla in the the Oaxaca valley at the excellent web-site provided by California State University at Los Angeles: Slide Show, (Hint: you can click on the thumbnail pictures to get more detail and enlargements).

Returning to the city of Oaxaca, you can see the gold treasures recovered from the tombs at Monte Alban are all on display in the Oaxaca Regional Museum situated in the old convent next to the truly magnificent Santo Domingo church. Adjacent to Santo Domingo are the new ethnobotanical gardens with guided tours in English and Spanish. Don't miss the Cathedral where Manuel de Zumaya was composing first class baroque music in the early 1700s, or the church of Solidad, the patron saint of Oaxaca.

(Left) The colonial churches of Oaxaca, Santo Domingo

The monastery at Cuilapan,
just outside of Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico

Take a trip to the unfinished monastery and church at Cuilapan, built on top of the old Zapotec temple (there is still one small portion of the old painted floor visible), and a carved stone in the wall records the date, 1555, in both Zapotec and modern writing, and the date 1568 in Mixtec only. The completion was halted by the Cortes family, the hereditary Marquis of Oaxaca, in 1560. The second President of Mexico (1829-30), Vicente Guerrero was executed in the courtyard to the south of the monastery and church complex at Cuilapan. Two years later his body was exhumed and re-buried with great honor, and the pueblo took the name of Cuilapan de Guerrero. Cuilapan is best followed by a visit to the last Zapotec capital at Zaachila (with a traditional Mexican lunch in between at a beautful old restaurant under the trees).

You can see Cortes' own house (now a museum) in the city of Oaxaca, but the Cortes house at Cuilapan is now reduced to a single wall.

Turning back to the Mitla valley, there is a well preserved sixteenth century church at Tlacochahuaya, still used for regular services. Teotitlan del Valle is the center of Oaxacan rug-weaving, and you can see the old looms in operation. With luck you might also see the old 'back-strap loom' in operation. The old Sunday market at Tlacolula is well worth a visit, and is easily combined with visits to Mitla, Dainzu, Lambityeco and Teotitlan. (And you can get free tastes of the local mezcal along the way!).

A mile or two above Teotitlan is a beatiful reservoir, frequented by many birds, and surrounded by high mountains.

(Left) The lake at Teotitlán

Black pottery from Oaxaca, the village of Coyotepec is famous for it´s black pottery and makes an ideal day trip from the Center of Oaxaca

Don't miss the village folk arts: the world famous black pottery (revived by Dona Rosa and still demonstrated by her son) at Coyotepec, the green pottery at Atzompa, the belt weavers at Santo Tomas Jalieza, and the wood carving at Tilcajete and at Arrazola (on the way to Cuilapan), the tempera sculpures and white slip pottery at Ocotlan, the carrizo basketry and bird cages at San Juan Guelavia, the milagro at Ejutla, and the hand-made paper production using ancient techniques at Etla.

For a longer drive through the Sierra Juarez mountains, visit Guelatao, the birthplace of Mexico's most famous President, Benito Juarez, a close friend and correspondant of Abraham Lincoln. There is a small museum at Guelatao.

See the house on the Avenida Pino Suarez where D H Lawrence lived, and wrote "The Plumed Serpent"; the house he immortalized in "Mornings in Mexico". It was originally numbered 43, but was later renumbered to 600. It still exists as a private residence.

The house originally belonged to the English Rickard family who donated the old Mixtec "Codex Rickard" to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Although Lawrence lost his way and failed to find San Felipe del Agua on his Sunday walk, he did reach Huayapan on his "Walk to Huayapan" - and so can you, if you wish.

View of the Oaxaca Cathedral through the trees in the Zócalo

And if all this sounds just too much: visit the Zocolo with its bandstand, in the center of the city and enjoy the leisure of watching people with a drink in front of you at one of the many restaurants lining the square. Aldous Huxley visited here in the late 1920's and for entertainment was driven by his host in one of Oaxaca's first automobiles, round and round the Zocolo for two hours. He found this got a little tedious, but the Zocolo is now closed to traffic, and it is very easy to sit and watch for two hours.

If you feel a little more energetic, take a short, quiet walk from the hotel itself, up through the old pueblo of San Felipe del Agua, through the Parque Communal on quiet narrow trails. and into the Benito Juarez National Park for a picnic by one of the beautiful streams (which run all year round). High on the west ridge of the valley is a simple stone memorial to Benito Juarez with the inscription "El respeto al direcho ajeno es la paz" - respect for the rights of others is peace.

Sixteen living languages are still spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico

Sixteen living languages are still spoken in the state of Oaxaca, where ancient Indian customs and culture are still alive. On an evening stroll through San Felipe you can still hear the old Zapotec tongue. If you come in June, you will see the pairs of oxen setting out to plough the fields where the ages-old traditional crop of corn is still grown. One can feel that Oaxaca combines the past with the present in a very exciting way.